While in Japan, I’ve learned many new
things about the language. I’ve learned
a lot of new grammar, kanji (Chinese characters), and vocabulary. Of all the things I’ve learned, one, which
can’t be learned in a normal class, is Kansai-ben. Kansai-ben, or Kansai dialect, is one of the
many regional dialects in Japan. Because
I go to school in the Kansai region, this is the dialect I’m exposed to the
most.
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| Map of Japan showing all the regions. |
I’ve
learned Kansai-ben from many of my Japanese friends. There’s never a particular type of situation
in which they bring up Kansai-ben, they just always teach me a new one here and
there. We’re typically having a casual
conversation and the person I’m talking to will use a word I don’t know and
then explain to me that it’s Kansai-ben.
I often don’t have to ask about the word, as it’ll be explained to me
before I ask. On a few occasions,
however, I’ve also had to ask about particular words and phrases.
I
find it interesting that all of my friends from the Kansai region seem happy to
teach me Kansai-ben. Friends from Osaka,
Kyoto, Wakayama, and various other places in the area all use and teach me
Kansai-ben. Sometimes, though, I wonder
how much particular words are actually used.
There are certain phrases I hear pretty frequently, but I don’t
typically hear some words that I’ve been taught. Regardless of use, people want to teach me
Kansai-ben and I think it’s connected to a sense of pride in where people come
from. To some extent, I understand this,
and I enjoy teaching people unique words from my region as well. Recently, I even had a conversation with a
friend in which we were exchanging special words from our regions.
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| Map of Kansai and all of the places it includes |
I try to use a little bit
of Kansai-ben here and there and I’ll try to throw in my most recently learned
word to a conversation but it can be hard.
It feels a little awkward to use Japanese that I didn’t learn in class,
but my friends seem to be encouraging and always happy to hear and use
Kansai-ben.
*The title of this post is a popular
Kansai-ben phrase and roughly means “What the heck!?”
Note: The map of Japan came from http://www.jref.com/
Note: The map of Japan came from http://www.jref.com/
